The present disclosure generally relates to light pipes. In particular, this disclosure relates to light pipes having a thermally conductive coating designed to transfer and radiate heat away from a heat-producing electronic device.
A light pipe may be an inexpensive, molded structure which may be used to direct light from a light source such as a light emitting diode (LED) to a location where the light may be useful as a visual indicator. For example, a light pipe may be used to direct light emitted by an LED mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) within a computer or other electronic device to a location on the device's case which may be easily viewed. Light transmitted by a light pipe and viewed by a user of an electronic device may be useful in indicating a status of the device, such as an “ON/OFF” status, “in use” status (e.g., of a hard drive), or “connected/disconnected” status (e.g., of a network connection). Light pipes may be fabricated from polycarbonate, glass, plastic, or other optical grade materials, in a wide variety of shapes suitable for particular applications. Light pipes may offer a cost-effective alternative that has a simplified assembly process relative to placing and wiring optical indicator devices (e.g., LEDs) in various locations within an electronic device.
A heat sink may be used in computers and electronic systems as a passive heat exchanger, and may act as a reservoir that can absorb an arbitrary amount of heat without significantly changing temperature. Heat sinks may be used in computers, for example, to cool devices such as central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs) and other types of electronic components, modules and assemblies. A heat sink may also dissipate heat produced by electronic devices into a medium, such as air, water, or a coolant/refrigerant. Heat sinks may reach a temperature greater than a cooling medium, in order to transfer heat across a thermal gradient from an electronic device to the medium, by convection, radiation, or conduction.